The New Death
by SoftlySweptAway
Summary: Kenny likened his most recent death to his first with bitter nostalgia.


Choking, a panicked convulsing in his lungs with a bold burning sensation.

Kenny likened his most recent death to his first with bitter nostalgia. Despite dying for years since a tender young age, Kenny could still remember his very first death. No matter how young the memory it was still there fresh in his mind. Kenny had been a young babbling infant without a care in the world, this cheerfulness he could only assume because for as long as he could remember there was only pain. There was only slow agonizing pain since the time of his very first death. With a cheerfulness and a stupidness that only an infant could posses, he remembered spotting a small shiny object in the corner of his room. He could not recall the feel of the old beat up carpet as he crawled to his new sparkling treasure he could not remember the feel of the cold stiff surface of shiny metal beneath his fat fleshy fingertips. All he could remember the searing agony that came when a quarter-sized object was ledged into your throat, burning your lungs with a vengeance.

He remembered the panic and the cold feel of death settling into fat baby skin.

The sensation of then was not different from the sensation of now. Today Kenny found himself choking on the cold murky waters of Stark's Pond. He felt the old murky water of the lake rush down his throat and burn down his nostrils as he struggled for air, an old useless battle. Slowly, he closed his eyes feeling the panicked convulsions in his lung slowly fade away.

Sometimes it was hard to pretend he lived in darkness. It became increasingly more difficult by the day to pretend that he was just as blind to his death's as everyone else in this town. He could smile his best shit-eating grin all he wanted but that wouldn't make the cold hand of death go away. That wouldn't stop a deep hollow gaze from being fixated so diligently on his own. That wouldn't stop the familiar feeling of terror settling itself into his stomach as his cruel desperate lover greeted him in the abyss.

And again, Kenny found himself greeted by his permanent lover.

After attending a school outing to Starks Pond and promptly being shoved into the lake by Cartman for laughs, Kenny felt a firm heavy weight snag onto his clothing and drag him under. No one came to his rescue as waves broke the surface of the pond, desperately trying to get someone's attention. No one noticed as a sad little boy drowned cold and alone among a crowd.

Death was a cruel lover.

The actual spirit of death wasn't as old as one would think. Kenny had heard through the proverbial grapevine 'aka hell.' That the original spirit of death had died long ago, as ironic as that could be. The death became weary of sending doomed souls to their fate, slowly turning its own bones to ash with the slow passage of time. Kenny often wondered how lonely it must've been, to watch mortals live their useless mortal lives and be forced to send them to their fate. As year after year, century after century passed, how lonely would one feel being unable to die being frozen like ice watching so many other pass before you.

Not like Kenny couldn't relate.

So apparently a new death had been born. Probably from some frail human soul not befitting heaven or hell. Its white bony figure formed, hiding under the darkness of its cloak, befitting that of a human corpse. According to the son of the devil himself, the new death was far lonelier than the last, but did not allow itself to die. Instead it had resolved to find a love.

And a lover he found within Kenny.

Kenny didn't understand these details until much later in his life, fourth grade to be exact, when he spent an entire year in hell coaxing Satan out of his abusive relationship with Sadamn. Damien had told him casually, as casually as Damien could muster;

"The reason you die so much is because he's in love." He said simply as he sat in Satan's living room, enjoying a celebratory feast about his breakup with Sadamn.

"Who's in love?" Kenny asked between mouthfuls of food. Hell might be… well hell for others but for Kenny any afterlife was peace.

"Death. Death has fallen in love with you."

And Kenny hadn't quite known what to do with himself after that.

"What do you mean?" He asked, his appetite suddenly gone.

"I mean Death himself is in love with you." He repeated with a calculated coolness.

"He didn't want to be lonely anymore so he fell in love with you. He wants to see you so bad that he summons you back to life and kills you again." Damien continued to smirk through Kenny's confusion and horror, but somehow Kenny couldn't make himself feel surprised. There had always been something lurking, something watching within the deeper shadows of the abyss. He had shaken it off when he was younger, more focused at entering his new body and occasionally entering the afterlife, but as he grew older the feeling of unease grew harder and harder to shake.

Now Kenny stared deeply into the abyss, the words from Damien's tongue echoing even through the years past. He stared calmly into the darkness accepting his fate. He couldn't change the fact that he died. He couldn't change the fact that he would never be a normal teenage boy with normal teenage problems. He knew that he would always be looking over his shoulder, searching for that dark murky shadow, wondering how his new death would be.

Kenny stared into the abyss as the dark looming figure made himself known. Reaching out to Kenny with his long bony fingers. Kenny could only burden the shudder of terror as he reached back as well, his desires and fears useless to the will of his immortal's might.

Kenny felt the cold cruel touch of his lover's hand on his cheek and could only wonder how he would greet him tomorrow.


End file.
